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Thursday March 28, 2024

SSC exams marred by no water, power and toilet facilities

By Our Correspondent
April 03, 2019

A dozen examiners were suspended and four fake candidates detained on the second day of the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) annual examinations, as the students had to put with a lack of water, electricity and toilet facilities on Tuesday.

The other mismanagement issues observed at the exam centres included interruption from outsiders to provide the candidates with cheating materials. During the Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) vigilance teams’ visits to the exam centres, at least a dozen examiners were suspended and four fake candidates were detained.

BSEK Chairman Prof Dr Saeeduddin suspended two examiners: an examination superintendent and a senior control officer.They were deployed to supervise the assessment process at the Government Boys Secondary School (GBSS), New Karachi.

While at the GBSS No. II in K-Area, Korangi, the centre control officer caught four fake candidates who tried to take the exams instead of the real candidates. During the exams hours, the chairman and other vigilance teams visited different exams centres across the city to keep the exam process transparent.

“In the current SSC examinations, around 0.4 million candidates from across the city will be attempting their papers,” said Saeeduddin. “To facilitate these candidates, the board has made all possible arrangements. But some reporters are busy making headlines for their TV channels by highlighting minor issues.”

The chairman also took notice of the complaints from the examinees that they had not received their question papers on time. “I instructed all those superintendents that if they receive question papers late from the board, they can give some extra time to the candidates to solve their papers.”

On the other hand, a number of candidates also complained about the unavailability of essential facilities at their examinations centres. Most of the candidates complained about electricity breakdowns, a lack of drinking water as well as toilet facilities, which caused them numerous difficulties during the exam process.

Elementary, Secondary & Higher Secondary Schools Director Hamid Karim has written to the relevant authorities, saying that during his visit to different examination centres, he observed that the examiners, including teachers and other staff, were inefficient and they were neglecting their official duties.

Over this negligence, Karim recommended to Minister for Education & Literacy Syed Sardar Ali to suspend three teachers, namely Zulfiqar Ali at the GBSS, Cattle Colony, Malir; Shah Jehan Hakro at the GBSS, New Karachi and Nadeem at the GBSS, Jut Line, East Karachi. The minister later on ordered suspending the services of those three teachers until further order.

During the visit to examination centres in Thatta and Gharo, Shah also suspended a junior cleric, Khair Bakhsh, headmaster Noor Muhammad and external examiner Allah Dino.

School Education Secretary Qazi Shahid Pervez, during his visit to many examination centres, suspended headmaster Wahid Bakhsh at the Government High School, Korangi; teacher Muhammad Hashim at the Government Primary School, Korangi 7; headmaster Saleem Khan at the Technical High School, Jacob Lane and teacher Wahid Nag at the Jut Line Government Boys School. These teachers were allegedly involved in facilitating candidates with cheating materials.